Mountain hog numbers

[Joehales90]

Hey guys me, my brother and a buddy of ours are heading down in a month (after the deer season, limited to small game/black powder weapons) to try hog hunting for the first time. I reached out on the forum a few months ago looking for advice and got a lot of good information. Now that we're a month out, we want to narrow down where we're headed... southern GA with the river systems sounds great but I'm told they're heavily pressured by then. Our original plan was cohutta since it's huge and we can camp there. I'm told they're less abundant but also less pressured in the mountains. Looking for any help we can get on this... it's about a 10-12 hour drive for us regardless of where we go in the state. We wanna do anything possible to make a successful hunt. Thanks in advance!

 

[chrislibby88]

Start down on the creeks, follow the sign from there. Alot of folks have pretty good luck on food plots late season. There should be some red oaks still around, but they are getting scarcer by the day.

 

[Joehales90]

You talking about creeks in the mountains in general or cohutta?

 

[Doug B.]

Don't limit yourself to WMA's. There are millions of acres of National Forest.

 

[Joehales90]

I'm fine with national forests too. Instead of wmas I should just be saying public land... here in MD we only have wmas for public land.

 

[Professor]

They are hard to pin down in the mountains. Seems I can just walk up on them in West Georgia. Sprewell Bluff has a bunch. Hannahachee Creek has a ton. Not sure about dates on those 2 WMAs, but they both have pigs you can find.

 

[jbogg]

There are plenty of hogs, but getting on them can be far from easy in the mountains. With limited time over just a few days I would consider bringing a couple of mountain bikes and covering a lot of ground checking distant food plots behind locked gates on some of the mountain WMAs. You can definitely stumble on them in the big woods, but if your legs are not in mountain shape you will empty the gas tank in a hurry. Hogs are a scourge on the landscape and constantly destroy food plots and roads that the DNR maintains. Try calling the local DNR office and speaking with one of the wildlife techs. Pretty sure they would be happy to help point you in the right direction.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I’d go southern georgia if I were y’all. Hogs won’t be pressure much then because there are far fewer hunters in the woods even now as the rut has passed, and won’t be hardly anyone in the woods after January

 

[35 Whelen]

There are plenty of hogs, but getting on them can be far from easy in the mountains. With limited time over just a few days I would consider bringing a couple of mountain bikes and covering a lot of ground checking distant food plots behind locked gates on some of the mountain WMAs. You can definitely stumble on them in the big woods, but if your legs are not in mountain shape you will empty the gas tank in a hurry. Hogs are a scourge on the landscape and constantly destroy food plots and roads that the DNR maintains. Try calling the local DNR office and speaking with one of the wildlife techs. Pretty sure they would be happy to help point you in the right direction.

They should be willing to point you in the right direction, every year in the February issue of GON there is an article about public land hog hunting with interviews of DNR wildlife techs specifically telling what areas to find hogs in each management zone on WMA'S.

 

[jbogg]

It’s been a few years since I have specifically hunted hogs on public land in the mountains. When hunting late small game season, specifically January and February, I had most of my success while hunting during the warmest hours of the day during those sunny days when temperatures were very cold. It seemed like the pigs would feed like crazy for a few hours once it finally warmed up. A lot of the food plots can be in rough shape that time of year, but if you can find one with some green clover, combined with some fresh hog sign you have a good chance of them showing up.

 

[Professor]

They should be willing to point you in the right direction, every year in the February issue of GON there is an article about public land hog hunting with interviews of DNR wildlife techs specifically telling what areas to find hogs in each management zone on WMA'S.

They will help. They will tell you the hogs are in one spot one day and miles away the next.

 

[ddd-shooter]

They will help. They will tell you the hogs are in one spot one day and miles away the next.

…which is true….I feel like they’re more nomadic up here than anywhere

 

[deadend]

I'd go south if you're looking to kill a hog.

 

[bany]

…which is true….I feel like they’re more nomadic up here than anywhere

Which is also true!

 

[mallardsx2]

Go the the CNF and hunt the laurel on the side hills. They are literally everywhere.

 

[bany]

I'd go south if you're looking to kill a hog.

I’d suspect from past mountain experience and current reports and also a lot of hog hunting in a well populated area this^ is the case.
The key of course is finding them. I know the mountain pigs will split. Miles that is. Now you could possibly drive around the mountain ”block” to try and relocate them.
The southern pigs I hunt aren’t nomadic, nocturnal under pressure but not nomads. They might hole up in a 1/2 acre thicket until you actually go in and kick them out!
Now I’ve never hunted south ga but that’s my sense.
One thing is certain, y’all should enjoy hunting anywhere you end up in Georgia

 

[bany]

I'm fine with national forests too. Instead of wmas I should just be saying public land... here in MD we only have wmas for public land.

Is that one of those Glenn Burnie bucks in your avatar?

 

[Joehales90]

Is that one of those Glenn Burnie bucks in your avatar?

Sorry, somehow missed this. No, I'm about 60 miles south of Glen Burnie.

 

[Doug B.]

Now you could possibly drive around the mountain ”block” to try and relocate them.

???????????

There is no such thing as a "mountain block" !
If you drive around some mountains you could actually be on a different watershed! Course, the hogs could actually be on another watershed! They are unpredictable here in the mountains sometimes.

 

[bany]

???????????

There is no such thing as a "mountain block" !
If you drive around some mountains you could actually be on a different watershed! Course, the hogs could actually be on another watershed! They are unpredictable here in the mountains sometimes.[/QUOTE

???? sure there is! Check the maps! As long as there’s water hogs don’t care which shed it is?